Twitter surrenders to the Turks

It appears that Twitter has crumbled before the Turkish government and will censor any allegation of corruption which appears on the site.

According to a senior government official, Twitter will be more sensitive in responding to Turkish court orders calling for content to be removed from the site, and will open a live customer support service in Turkish to address complaints.

Apparently the talks were held in Dublin on Tuesday and Wednesday to iron out their differences. Under the deal Twitter will set up a live customer support service soon which will speed up cases like breaching privacy rights the Turkish official told Reuters.

The Turkish government blocked both Twitter and YouTube in the approach to local elections after audiotapes purportedly uncovering corruption in Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle were leaked onto the social media sites.

Erdogan has consistently dismissed the leaked recordings as a fabrication, and part of a plot to unseat him.

The Twitter block was lifted at the beginning of April after the constitutional court ruled that it breached freedom of expression. Erdogan was furious. YouTube remains partially inaccessible to Turkish users.

According to the Turkish official, no agreement has been reached regarding the government’s request for Twitter to open an office in the country.